Jockey Katie Davis rides first race since May 2021

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Katie Davis finished sixth in Friday’s fourth race at Saratoga, but she most certainly felt like a winner when she got off the filly Diva Banker.

The mount was the first for Davis since May 9, 2021, at Pimlico when she won a $16,000 claimer aboard Fairy Wish.

“I was champing at the bit,” Davis said.

Since she last rode, Davis, who is married to jockey Trevor McCarthy, gave birth to a baby daughter, Riley, last December. Though she was in labor for 25 hours and ultimately had a C-section, Davis said she was back on horses six weeks later.

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Davis galloped horses for her father, Robbie and trainer Ray Handal, for whom she rode Diva Banker on Friday. Davis said she was planning on waiting until racing on this circuit moved downstate to Aqueduct, but Handal prompted her to ride this filly, who she had been getting on in the mornings.

“I was going to wait and Ray saw the opportunity with his own horses and me and him were going back and forth,” Davis said. “He said ‘See if you want to do it or not.’ Coming back after the race I was like ‘I missed it.’ ”

Davis said her goal is to ride full-time starting in November at Aqueduct.

“I want to work out more and get more determined and more focused,” Davis said.